


To Love, To Grow, To Hide, To Show

by jewelianna88



Category: Popslash
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-23
Updated: 2011-04-23
Packaged: 2017-10-18 13:49:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/189528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jewelianna88/pseuds/jewelianna88
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joey never imagined JC was in on those vampire stories.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Love, To Grow, To Hide, To Show

The phone rang and they both jumped. Joey glanced at Briahna, who grasped her hands together and squealed. “Answer it!” she demanded until he flipped open the lid.

He listened for a few seconds, then nodded, smiling broadly as Briahna screamed and started dancing around the room. He blocked his other ear to drown out the noise as she continued to sing “You got it, you got it, you got it!”

Hanging up, Joey grinned at her, and she launched herself into his arms. “I can’t believe you’re going to be Romeo Nero! This is like, the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me, ever.”

“To you?” Joey asked with a grin, “What about me?”

“Okay, you too.” She pulled back and whipped out her own phone, pausing before hitting the buttons. “Can I tell Olivia? You know it’s gonna be on TMZ by tonight anyway.”

“Yeah, go ahead. But pack up, your mom’ll be here soon.” Joey tossed her sweatshirt across the living room as she texted her friends, gathering textbooks and tubes of lip gloss. The girl seemed to have one in every flavor.

The doorbell rang, and Joey opened it with a smile. Kelly looked good, happy, which is more than he could say for most of the past few years.

“Mom!” Briahna came flying out the door in a whirlwind of pink and white sneakers. “Dad’s gonna be Romeo Nero!”

“Whoa,” Kelly laughed, catching Briahna by the hood. “Who’s Romeo Nero?”

Rolling her eyes, Briahna explained “He’s the guardian from the Vampire Vacation books. The ones with the group of teenage vampires in Italy, and he’s the one who watches over them and stuff. He’s, like, 30 in human years, so obviously he’s gonna be older in the movie— “

“Hey!” Joey protested, but Briahna kept talking “—but that doesn’t matter, cause he’s only one of the secondary characters. They’re making a movie out of Vampire in Venice as the first one, which is totally my favorite with Antonio, who’s like, super hot, and they haven’t cast him yet, but Dad’s gonna find out before anyone else and tell me, right?” The last word was said with a pointed look and firmness.

“I’ll try. I’m meeting with the director and writer and author tomorrow, so I’ll see what I can find out.” He doubted they’d give him any inside information, but he’d ask anyway.

Briahna seemed appeased. “OK, but when you see Scott Anthony, you have to tell him that he’s the most awesome writer, ever, and get him to sign something for me. Or, wait!” She pulled a battered paperback out of her backpack and handed it to him. “Get him to sign this, okay?”

Joey agreed, glancing at the cover as they loaded up the car and drove away. Et tu, Vampire? was the title. He shook his head, wondering what he was getting himself into.

**

Joey grabbed his sunglasses as he exited his car the next morning at the studio lot and shielded his eyes from the bright California sun. He’d spent years in Florida, but it just seemed brighter out on the west coast. He removed them when he entered the studio offices and checked in with the receptionist. His agent was there to meet him, and together they rode to the top floor conference rooms.

Walking in, Joey glanced around the room, startled to see a very familiar face at the end of the table. His hair was a little bit lighter, his clothes different, but that was definitely JC. He also looked very surprised and was shaking his head in a very clear do not say a word gesture.

“Joey Fatone, meet Olive Quinn our director, and Matthew Sullivan, the head screenwriter. And that fellow at the end of the table is Scott Anthony, the creator the Vampire Vacation franchise. He’s here as a creative consultant on the project, and executive producer. Gentleman, Joey Fatone, our Romeo Nero.”

“Hey,” he said, sitting down. He tried to stop staring at JC, who was avoiding his eye. They went through the meeting, outlining the shooting timeline and contract specifics. When everything was signed, the men shook hands and agreed to meet again when preproduction began in April.

Joey made it as far as his car before his phone rang. He knew it was JC before looking at the screen.

“Scott Anthony,” Joey answered, without even saying hello.

“Hey? You outside?”

“Yeah.” Joey paused by the car, fumbling for his keys.

“Wait there.” A second later, JC came running out the door. He slowed to a stop a few feet away.

“Yeah, uh. That was a surprise, seeing you there. They told me they had some great Italian guy, I didn’t know it was you. I would have given you the heads-up.”

“Do they know who you are?” Joey asked. JC hadn’t exactly gone into hiding after he stopped performing. He’d been judging that dance show on MTV for years.

“Nah. They see what they want to see, which is some dorky fantasy author who writes for kids 'cause he can’t hack adult novels.” There was bitterness and amusement in JC’s voice.

“So you really wrote all those books? Briahna’s obsessed with them.”

“Yeah. I don’t know, I just. I got this idea, and it just sort of exploded.” JC scratched the back of his neck. “I was like, watching my Buffy DVDs, and just started thinking and well. I wrote one, and then the publisher came back with a three book deal, and just. I had a lot of down time, you know?”

Joey tried to follow JC’s rambles, finding him just about as coherent as usual. “That’s cool, man, that’s cool. But no one knows who you are, right?”

“Right. Well, I mean, the official-official stuff’s all in my real name, but as far as the media and everything, it’s all Scott Anthony. I kind of figured it might get out with the movie and everything, but I’m gonna lay low on set and hope for the best.”

Joey shook his head. “So you’ll be on set? I didn’t think writers did that.”

JC shrugged. “I asked.”

Joey laughed, because he’d forgotten some things, like that JC was a cheap son of a bitch and being present at filming meant a trip to Italy on the studio dime. “Right. So hey,” he said, pressing the button to unlock his car and grabbing Briahna’s book off of the front seat. “Will you sign this and win me major cool points with the kidlet?”

“Man, I can’t believe Briahna’s old enough to be reading this stuff. Seems like yesterday she was running around the bus in diapers.”

Joey cringed. “Don’t remind me. She’s got a boyfriend. He’s in her English class and writes poetry.”

JC made a pained face and handed back the book. “So, I’ll see you in Italy, right? Is Kel coming?”

Joey stared at him. “C, we separated, like, six months ago. She met a guy and got sick of fronting for me. It’s cool, and Bri’s doing OK with it, so. That’s really all that matters, right?”

“So you’re like out?” JC’s eyebrows raised high in shock. They’d all known for years that Joey dabbled in men as well as women, but it had always been unspoken, unacknowledged.

“Nah, just. Free to explore, do my thing. You know.”

“Right.” JC smiled unexpectedly. “So, I’ll see you in Venice, then.”

“Sounds like. Good to see you man. And hey, this’ll be fun.” Joey climbed into his car and waved as he drove away. JC, he thought. They hadn’t had more than a couple of casual conversations at industry events in years, and now they’d be working together for months. He wondered if it’d be anything like old times.

**

Joey had never felt as old as when he sat around the table of young actors who would play the teen leads in the movie. He walked in to their first table read with a giant coffee in one hand, script in the other to find a cavalcade of twenty year olds drinking colored water and talking about things he hadn’t been concerned with in over ten years.

There was that American Idol guy from a few years back that was playing the rebel, and some kid from the football show who was supposed to play the innocent. The lead was a newcomer, a face who’d shown up on more than one guest TV spot but Joey couldn’t remember him from anything big. The director had lined them up down on side of the table. The female lead, some barely-legal actress gone rogue from Disney, was on the opposite side, along with the rest of the main cast.

Joey took his seat near one end of the table and tried not to think about the fact that he was almost the oldest person in the room, and that most of the cast was closer to his daughter’s age than his. It seemed every eye in the room was on him as he sat down and opened his script. Looking around, he was disappointed to not find JC in the room. It would have helped to see a familiar face.

**

Six weeks later, Joey headed to the airport ready to get away. They'd run the set scenes over the past few weeks in LA and were flying out to Venice for the exterior shots. The final leg was Florida, where they were filming a few scenes on the beach from the end of the story, when Joey's character visited the teen girl to tell her she could come back to Venice to be with her vampire boyfriend. Things had been going well, but every day had been full of stories of the craziness the younger cast had been up to the night before. Joey finished his days off by going home and helping with geometry homework. It was a weird existence.

Joey had his headphones in listening to his entire playlist on shuffle when he noticed JC come through the doors of the first-class lounge at LAX. With his backpack and sandals, JC looked very out of place among the businessmen in suits and skinny LA trust-fund teens with their trendy bags and slouchy sweaters. He scanned the room for a minute before heading right to Joey, dropping his bag thoughtlessly and plopping into the empty chair to Joey’s left.

"How's filming?" he asked, stealing the script out of Joey's hands.

"Good so far. I haven't done much since most of my scenes are the outdoor ones. The kids are doing a nice job of it. Entertainment Tonight's been on set a bit and the buzz is big." JC hadn’t been around any of the early shooting, to Joey’s disappointment.

"I know." JC handed him back the script. "My website manager's been overloaded. They crashed the server when the first clips when up. I still can't believe all the attention this is getting."

Joey could, since he lived with one of the die-hard fans. "Bri says the kids have designed their own buttons for each of the guys in the vampire gang. 'I love a rebel.' 'I love an artist.' 'I love a good boy.' That kind of thing."

JC shook his head, but he was smiling, eyes crinkled up. Joey had forgotten that JC's eyes did that, and it was really cute. "Does she have one?"

"The musician." Joey grimaced. "I think it's some sort of karma that my kid goes after the kind of guy I used to be. Universal revenge for all the one-night stands."

"You were never a bad guy, Joey. No one's heart was ever broken when you left their bed. You cared, even if it was only for a little while, and people got that."

Surprised by the depth of thought, Joey grinned a little. "Thanks man. So, hey. You're flying over for filming?"

"Just a couple of days, yeah. I stayed off set in LA because I didn't want to chance being recognized. But yeah, you know, I want to see what their doing to my guys. I kind of feel like a dad, I've made these people and now they're off on their own, changing and morphing into something different. It's cool, you know, 'cause it's like, alive, but I still want to check up on it."

"I still can't believe you're writing teen vampire books. I mean, that's not something anyone saw coming. I had the hardest time not telling Bri when she was assaulting me with questions after I said I met you."

JC laughed a little bit. "Can I borrow your phone for a sec?" he asked.

Confused, Joey handed it over. JC pulled up the text messages and sent one to Briahna. "She now thinks you gave her my personal email address. She can send her questions directly to me."

"Seriously?" The phone chirped as JC handed it back, and the unintelligible text from his daughter must have meant she liked it. "Your inbox will never be the same."

"It'll be fun having someone to talk to about it," JC answered.

They began to board the plane, and despite being midweek, the flight was full and they were on opposite ends of the first class cabin. With a wave, JC walked past Joey to his seat. Joey settled in and turned off his phone, ready for a long nap before three crazy weeks of filming.

As he drifted off, he thought of JC's smile and realized how much he'd missed that.

**

In Venice, most of the scenes were filmed at night, on one of the smaller islands in the harbor that had been blocked off from tourists. The locals were friendly enough, and the food was amazing. Joey was transported back to his grandmother’s kitchen every time he sat down to a meal in one of the local restaurants.

He slept during the day most of the time, in a house that had been rented for him and a couple of the other actors. With the shades pulled, his days were cast in a soft golden glow as he buried under the covers on the hard mattress and tried to turn his body clock around.

At night, he shot his scenes, over and over again in a tedium of movies that he’d almost forgotten. JC was there a lot, watching from the sidelines, talking to the director occasionally. Joey remembered how JC used to hound the sound guys on their tours, in a way he would have found annoying. JC, however, was able to flatter as he nitpicked, and he managed to get away with it. He hadn’t lost the skill.

Joey enjoyed watching him, not because from nostalgia to a time when he was a young hot star but because JC was a perfect example of success post-NSync. He knew that most people in the world saw them as the four guys Justin Timberlake had left behind, but Joey had always been proud of how his friends had morphed after the group ended. He’d focused on family and acting, Chris on enjoying life for the first time ever. Lance had come out and become quite the activist, as well as quietly working on projects underground. JC had been the one that concerned Joey.

He asked him about his music over lunch one day. JC’s second album had disappeared completely a couple of years earlier. Until then, he’d been talking about one day getting it released or at least selling the songs. He hadn’t even mentioned it in a long time.

“Yeah,” JC admitted, dipping a piece of bread in olive oil on the table, “I still have it, you know, all saved up and ready to go someday if I get the urge, but I had already started writing by the time the record company bought out my contract, so I just put the money into getting the first Vampire Vacation book published and put it out of my head.”

“You must miss it, though,” Joey prodded. He didn’t sing professionally but he sang all the time- in the car, in the shower, while he cooked dinner, or just when the mood struck. JC didn’t, and it was such a shame because he had the most beautiful voice Joey had ever heard.

JC shrugged. “I miss the stage, sometimes, but as long as I’ve got, like, an outlet, something I’m focused on, I’m good. I’ve got the books now, and they’re keeping me busy, and happy.”

Joey nodded, pouring more wine from the carafe into his glass. “And hey, cheers to that, for keeping us both employed.”

“And for this little reunion.” JC raised his glass and they clinked. As he sipped, he watched Joey over the rim, and Joey felt his stomach drop out a little bit, wondering if JC’s mind had wandered to sex as fast as his had.

 

**

Back at the house, JC followed Joey up to his suite, carrying a bottle of wine they’d bought on the way home. Joey slowly closed the door and watched JC pace around the room, setting the bottle down on the desk.

“So, ah, what do you want to do?” he asked, not really knowing where this was heading, not really wanting to ask any specifics.

JC shrugged and stopped moving. “I dunno.” Then he stepped close, so close Joey could feel JC’s breath on his cheek. He gulped.

“Um, C?” he asked quietly. Unconsciously, he licked his lips and watched JC’s eyes drop to his mouth.

“Good idea,” JC said, and kissed him. It wasn’t tentative or gentle, but firm, serious, a kiss that meant business. Joey didn’t even hesitate before kissing him back. There was just something right about the feeling of JC’s lips on his, JC’s hands sliding up under his shirt.

Joey tried to step back, to figure out what was going on, but JC followed him, until Joey’s back was pressed against the wall. Despite being thin, JC’s extra inch of height seemed to make him incredibly dominant, towering over Joey, eyes staring into his soul.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Joey protested. “We had a pact.”

“We made that,” JC said, dropping kisses along the stubble on Joey’s jaw, “when we were seventeen years old. I think,” he said, pausing to kiss Joey deeply, “that we’re old enough now to avoid disastrous outcomes.”

Joey wasn’t sure about that. He hadn’t been in any sort of serious relationship in years, except with Kelly, and that was really more platonic than anything else. The idea of suddenly being involved in a romance was heart-stopping.

Telling himself he was putting the cart before the horse, he forced himself to settle back and just enjoy the moment. Kissing JC was fantastic, just like he’d always known in would be. Some part of him remembered JC talking in a hotel room far away about sensitive nipples, so he slowly popped open the buttons on his shirt and drew it off of his shoulders. When he touched JC’s chest, pinched a nipple between his fingers, JC’s breath sucked in quickly, and exhaled on a low moan. The sound reverberated in Joey’s body, rolling through him in another wave of lust.

Pants were shed, a bed was found, and Joey rolled on top, pressing down, letting familiar motions take over. JC might have been on the downhill side of his 30s but his hips still moved like a teenager’s. It was the best sex Joey had in ages, and he shuddered when he came with JC’s name on his lips.

Panting, he flopped to the bed next to JC, hands barely touching between them. JC tipped his head to the side and opened his mouth, but he didn’t say a word.

Please don’t be awkward, Joey thought, watching as JC blinked slowly. Carefully, he moved his hand so that it covered JC’s and squeezed.

They fell asleep there, without saying a word.

**

Joey talked to Briahna the next day through some internet video chat she’d set up on his laptop. She sat an ocean away in her pajamas and made him recount every second of filming. Thank God she was such a good kid, he thought, that he could tell her all about it without worrying that it would all end up on the internet.

“And he totally says that you’re like, exactly what he pictured when he was writing Romeo, and that Romeo is probably going to get his own book, and get this? Romeo is GAY!”

“Whoa, chica. Who says?”

“Scott Anthony. We’ve been emailing, like, all the time, and he’s even asking my advice about the characters and stuff. And dad, you’ve got to tell him to do the scene with the church in the book, because it’s like, the best one ever.”

Joey let her babble on until there was a knock on the door. He said goodbye and closed the laptop before answer. JC was standing outside with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

“We never got to drink this last night,” he said, and there was expectation in his voice. Joey held the door open and smiled.

“Hey, I think my daughter’s half in love with you. Or, with Scott Anthony you. I mean, that part of you. And she says you need to do the church scene, whatever that means.” He left out the part about Romeo being gay. That just seemed like a touchy subject.

JC popped the cork on the bottle and poured two glasses. “Antonio can’t go into a church because he’s a vampire. But Clara’s always talking about the art inside, and he wants to see what she’s so into. She sneaks in at night with candles and mirrors so he can stand outside and look in to see them.”

It sounded a little weird to Joey, but he just shrugged and sipped some wine. “Well, Bri thinks it’s awesome.”

“I’ll talk to the writer. If we can’t get it in here, maybe we can work it into the next movie.” JC sat down on the sofa and waited for Joey to join him. “They picked up the sequel, did you hear that?”

“I did.” Joey sat down next to JC. “Guess we’re gonna be seeing a lot more of each other, huh?”

“Is that a good thing?” JC set his wine glass down on the coffee table and turned to Joey. “I mean, last night, is there any chance that could be a recurring event?”

Sighing with relief Joey abandoned his wine and reached for JC. “Yes. Definitely yes.” JC smiled as Joey leaned forward to kiss him, and they were naked again as soon as possible.

**

Sex was awesome. It wasn’t a secret, but it was one of those things people forgot when they got used to life without it. Joey hadn’t had regular sex in a very long time. It had been all one-night stands and discreet dates with hotel sex for years. It felt good to have someone in his bed every night, or day as it was.

Shooting was going too quickly. His scenes would wrap in only a few days, and JC was already talking about getting back to the States. They had a few days of shooting in Florida, where Joey was planning on seeing some old friends and buying Briahna a hermit crab, since she’d begged and pleaded for one of the creepy little things.

He wondered what was going on with JC. From his side of things, it seemed to be getting pretty serious. They fell back into familiar patterns despite a decade since spending this much time together. Over tiny cups of espresso or giant plates of pasta, they talked about music and movies and family, never mentioning what could have been, should have been, if they’d stayed in the group. It was refreshing, and hopeful. They were like old college friends, catching up, getting to know each other as adults.

When they were in bed, Joey couldn’t help but wonder if this was just an Italy thing, or a movie thing. He knew JC was supposed to have left a week earlier but had made excuses to hang around. He wondered if he was part of the reason. He hoped he was part of the reason.

Talking to Briahna, he tried to hide what he was feeling, but she was a perceptive kid. She picked up on the flush of his cheeks or the hitch in his voice when he mentioned the famous Scott Anthony.

She teased him over the webcam. “You should ask him out! You totally should. You guys should get married and then he’d be my stepdad and I’d get to know everything!”

“Briahna Joely!” Shocked, he was tempted to unplug the camera and walk away. Instead he took a deep breath and said “Adult relationships are a little more complicated than that. We’ll see how things go.”

It was the story of his life, he thought grimly. Be an adult, and trust that things would work out right.

**

Two weeks later, Joey watched the waves crash on the beach as he walked away from the set. Behind him, the cast and crew continued to celebrate wrapping up shooting with champagne spraying across the sand. He knew they'd all be back together again soon to start filming the sequel, since the early buzz was already indicating the movie would be a hit.

As he walked, he thought about how much things had changed in the past few weeks. He'd gone from being a mostly stay-at-home dad who occasionally took a movie role to a legitimate sought-after star. His agent told him he'd gotten three scripts and two up-front offers in the past five days alone. His life was never going to be the same, and he remembered back when NSync had gotten going. It was almost the same, but then it had been about hard work and dedication. This was all just blind luck.

Staring out at the water, he didn't hear JC approach until a shadow grew in the sand next to his.

"How come you're not over there with the others?"

Joey glanced back at the party. "That's not really my scene anymore. It's been fun hanging with them, you know, but. I'm not that 23 year old party guy anymore."

"It doesn't mean you can't celebrate." JC took his hand and tried to pull him back, but Joey resisted, holding his ground.

"I've got a lot of decisions to make, you know. I just can't turn my brain off of what comes next."

JC dropped his hand and looked at him curiously. "You're going home, aren't you? Briahna's expecting you tomorrow."

"I am. And I'll be back in Italy filming again in six months. But I never expected to be a full time movie guy. Am I supposed to give up being home with my kid and jump on projects while people know who I am?" Frustrated, Joey ran a hand through his hair.

"Bri'll understand, just as she'll love you if you turn it down to stay home with her. Sometimes life takes us to unexpected places. I never thought I'd give up singing to be a young adult sci-fi writer."

Laughing, Joey reached for JC's hand again, carefully linking their fingers. "What about us?"

"We can still be us. We're both in LA, we'll both be on the set again soon."

"I'm talking about more than geographical convenience, C."

JC stepped closer and with his free hand reached to stroke Joe's cheek. "Briahna told Scott Anthony that you're in love with him."

Swearing, Joey glanced down at the ground. JC guided his head back to meet his eyes.

"You never asked how I got my pseudonym."

Scott Anthony. JC's middle name and... his. Joey looked up, surprised, and it was JC's turn to be embarrassed. "I guess I always thought it would be me and you someday. This was just my way of linking us together. Or something."

Joey smiled and closed the distance between them, kissing JC fiercely. "So are we gonna tell Briahna the truth? Cause if you're gonna be around all the time she's going to find out eventually?"

Laughing, JC brought both hands up to Joey's face, angling him close for a kiss. "I'm dedicating the next book to her," he promised, "for helping me get back to you."

Breaking the kiss, Joey nudged JC's nose with his. "Does this mean you love me too?"

"Forever," JC promised, as the sun sank below the horizon. "Forever."

END


End file.
